Tenryu-ji: Life and Spirit of a Kyoto Garden

by Norris Brock Johnson

Overview

This illustrated study of Tenryuji, ranked number one among the five great Zen temples of Kyoto and a major destination for tourism and worship, weaves together history, design, culture, and personal reflection to reveal the inner workings of a great spiritual institution. Looking at Tenryuji's present as a mirror to its past, and detailing the famous pond and rockwork composition by renowned designer Muso Soseki, Norris Brock Johnson presents the first full-length "biography" of a Zen temple garden.

Norris Brock Johnson is a professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and has been teaching and writing about Japanese temple gardens for over twenty years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611720044
Publisher:	Stone Bridge Press
Publication date:	05/15/2012
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Norris Brock Johnson is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was a Fulbright Lecturer at Waseda Universityand University of Tokyo, Komaba. Professor Johnson has been researching, teaching, and writing about the temple gardens of Japan for over twenty years.

Table of Contents

The Pond in the Garden 11

Part I Land, Landscape, and the Spirit of Place 34

1 Mountains, Water, and Fragrant Trees 39

2 Death, Dream, and the Genesis of a Temple 61

3 Clouds of Flowers Preserve the Way 83

Part II A Garden in Green Shade 124

4 A Pond of Shadow and Shimmering Stones 133

5 Footprints in the Sky 151

6 Settling Flowers of Ice 195

7 Bridge to Buddha-Nature 211

8 Sitting in the Garden 227

9 Anchors Along the Journey 243

10 The Dragon Gate 259

Part III Garden as Life and Spirit 292

"Just as Before" 306

Endnotes 308

Bibliography 343

Index 359

Image Credits 368

Editorial Reviews

"Whether you experience Tenryu-ji in person or through the pages of this book, you will learn to understand the enduring appeal of Japanese gardens and will take away a lot more than photographic images and quickly fading memories. You will have a connection with the garden that will stay with you until your next visit- or your first." - The New York Journal of Books

"[Norris Brock Johnson is] the perfect guide, describing Tenryu-ji with intellectual conciseness and tenderness, for a site that has clearly come to represent more than just a sacred garden."—The Japan Times

From the Publisher